Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (8 page)

A clear, starry night. TINA GOLDSTEIN, reinstated Auror on a mission of her own, more elegant and confident than in New York but carrying private sadness, walks toward thebronzed statue of a robed woman set on a tall stone base, where witches and wizards dressed as Muggles are vanishing.

SCENE 41

EXT. PLACE CACHÉE, CIRCUS ARCANUS—NIGHT

Music, laughter, and conversation erupt around her. The circus is now in full swing. A banner declares:CIRCUS ARCANUS:FREAKS ANDODDITIES! Several tents, a big top in the middle.

TINA walks past the street performers working in the open, scrutinizing them. A HALF-TROLL performs feats of strength. A few misshapen and particularly downtroddenhumanoids—UNDERBEINGS without powers but of magical ancestry—shuffle around, taking money from the crowd. Horns hidden beneath hats, unusual eyes beneath hoods; HALF-ELVES andHALF-GOBLINS juggle and tumble.

A magnificent Chinese Zouwu, a giant catlike creature with a long, plumed tail, is imprisoned in a cage. Fireworks burst overhead.

SCENE 42

INT. CIRCUS ARCANUS, FREAKS’ TENT—EVENING

NAGINI is kneeling at a trunk, stroking her circus dress. She must perform shortly. CREDENCE hurries to her.

CREDENCE

(whispers)

Nagini!

She turns.

NAGINI

Credence.

He hands her the note. She scans it, frowns.

CREDENCE

(whispers)

I think I know where she is.

NAGINI looks up, meets his eyes.

CREDENCE

We escape tonight.

SKENDER comes into NAGINI’S tent.

SKENDER

Hey, I’ve told you to stay away from her, boy—did I say you could take a break? Clean out the Kappa.

SKENDER closes the curtain between CREDENCE and NAGINI.

SKENDER

(to NAGINI)

And you, get ready!

CREDENCE turns and looks up to a cage full of Firedrakes.

SCENE 43

INT. CIRCUS ARCANUS, BIG TOP—NIGHT

SKENDER is standing beside the circular platform/cage in the middle of a crowd, many of whom are drunk.

SKENDER

Next in our little show of freaks and oddities, I present to you—a Maledictus!

He whips open the curtains. There stands NAGINI in a snakeskin dress. Men in the crowd whistle and jeer.

SKENDER

Once trapped in the jungles of Indonesia, she is the carrier of a blood curse. Such Underbeings are destined, through the course of their lives, to turn permanently intobeasts.

TINA makes her way around the back of the crowd, looking for CREDENCE.

Elsewhere in the tent, an elegant, suited French African, YUSUF KAMA, is scanning the crowd rather than watching SKENDER. There is a black feather in the band of hisfedora.

SKENDER

But look at her. So beautiful, yes? So desirable . . . but soon she will be trapped forever in a very different body. Every night, when shesleeps . . . mesdames et messieurs . . . she is forced to become—

Nothing happens. The crowd jeers at SKENDER. NAGINI looks at SKENDER, a look of hatred.

SKENDER

She is forced to become . . .

CREDENCE’S and NAGINI’S eyes meet across the big top.

ANGLE ON TINA, who has spotted CREDENCE. She starts to edge toward him, trying not to attract attention.

ANGLE ON KAMA, who does the same.

SKENDER

She is forced to become . . .

SKENDER whips the bars. NAGINI closes her eyes. Slowly, she melts into coils.

SKENDER

Over time, she will not be able to transform back. She will be forever trapped in the body of a snake.

NAGINI suddenly strikes at SKENDER through the bars and utters a cry in Parseltongue. SKENDER crumples, bleeding. At the back of the tent, CREDENCE smashes open theFiredrakes’ cage and they soar to freedom like fireworks. The big top catches fire—screams, panic, the crowd falls over one another to reach the exit—

SCENE 44

EXT. CIRCUS ARCANUS, BIG TOP—NIGHT

The big top is on fire. Firedrakes weave patterns in the sky above it, trailing showers of sparks. The fire has terrified and enraged the creatures. A hippogriff is rearingand plunging while its handlers try to control it. Everywhere performers are packing up, fast, elves shutting themselves into boxes, which fold smaller and smaller.

TINA Apparates and, with a flick of her wand, puts out the fire.

The Zouwu crate is on fire and shaking perilously. The creature within roars and howls. The Zouwu explodes out of it: a monstrous cat the size of an elephant, five-colored,with a tail as long as a python. It has been horrendously abused: Scars across its face, it is malnourished, limping, and now driven to a frenzy of terror.